NASA oceanographers agree that the recent La Nina in the eastern Pacific Ocean is not expected to have an effect on the Atlantic hurricane season this year. That is good news, because normally a La Niña tends to increase Atlantic hurricane activity and decrease Pacific Ocean hurricanes.

Although La Nina occurs in the Pacific, it affects weather in the Atlantic Ocean as well, through changes in the winds. La Niña changes the wind patterns in the upper and lower levels of the atmosp

The vast loop of winds that drives climate and ocean behavior across the tropical Pacific has weakened by 3.5% since the mid-1800s, and it may weaken another 10% by 2100, according to a study led by University Corporation for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) scientist Gabriel Vecchi. The study indicates that the only plausible explanation for the slowdown is human-induced climate change. The findings appear in the May 4 issue of Nature.

The Walker circulation, which spans almost half the cir

MTT Agrifood Research Finland researchers have identified the birth mechanism of an infertility problem afflicting Finnish Yorkshire pigs. A retroposon, or “jumping gene”, was found to be behind the hereditary defect giving rise to the immotile short-tail sperm defect (ISTS) in boars, by producing a mutation in the KPL2-gene in pigs.

The ISTS defect, causing sterility, was detected in Finnish Yorkshire boars for the first time in 1987. Spermatozoa of boars suffering from the def

Arizona farmers receive the same yield/acre, use fewer chemical insecticides and maintain insect biodiversity when they plant the biotech cotton known as Bt cotton, according to new research.

The finding comes from the first large-scale study that simultaneously examined how growing Bt cotton affects yield, pesticide use and biodiversity.

It’s good news for the environment.

“What we see is that it’s positive here in Arizona — no doubt about it,” sai

For many people, a monsoon brings to mind images of intense rainfall and high winds in faraway places. Actually, monsoons occur all over the globe, including North America. These seasonal reversals of winds trigger dramatic changes in rainfall and other weather events within a short period of time.

The North American monsoon affects large areas of the southwestern United States and northwestern Mexico. This rainy season brings with it much more than torrential downpours from J

The situation in Navarre with regard to climate change is one of concern given that gas emissions from the greenhouse effect are even greater than the average in Spain (45%). This is the conclusion of Miren Sarasíbar Iriarte on defending her PhD Law thesis at the Public University of Navarre recently. She analysed sources involving legal norms regulating the environmental functions of forests with reference to international, European Community and Spanish legislation.

Doctor Sarasibar

Earth’s wetlands are vital to the water cycle and havens for wildlife, but they are under threat. GlobWetland, an ESA-led initiative in collaboration with the Ramsar Convention Secretariat, has been addressing this issue by using satellite imagery to provide detailed wide-area views of individual wetlands to aid national and local conservation efforts.

Because the success of wetland conservation ultimately comes down to individual wetland managers, the GlobWetland products and services

Estimates of increased plant respiration in response to higher global temperatures may be somewhat overstated as they have not taken into account plants’ ability to adjust to changing conditions, according to researchers from Oak Ridge National Laboratory.

In a Perspectives paper published April 28 by Science, a team led by Tony King cites ORNL findings suggesting that about 9 percent more carbon will be stored in plants and soil with the acclimation of plants included in

A new study of side-blotched lizards in California has revealed the genetic underpinnings of altruistic behavior in this common lizard species, providing new insights into the long-standing puzzle of how cooperation and altruism can evolve. The study, led by researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, offers the first evidence in vertebrates of an important theoretical concept in evolutionary biology known as “greenbeard” altruism.

“This reflects a major breakthrough in ou

Separated in history by 100 years, the seafaring Minoans of Crete and the mercantile Canaanites of northern Egypt and the Levant (a large area of the Middle East) at the eastern end of the Mediterranean were never considered trading partners at the start of the Late Bronze Age. Until now.

Cultural links between the Aegean and Near Eastern civilizations will have to be reconsidered: A new Cornell University radiocarbon study of tree rings and seeds shows that the Santorini (or

Aston University’s Bio-Energy Research Group (BERG) and Biffa, one of the UK’s largest waste companies, have teamed up to find new ways to recover energy from a changing mix of domestic, commercial and industrial landfill waste.

The Government’s pledge to cut the amount of biodegradable waste going to landfill by 50% from 1995 levels by 2013 means UK landfill operators face a very different pile of rubbish than in the past.

Biffa operates over 30 landfill sites across t

Global warming and other threats are killing coral reefs through a phenomenon known as bleaching. But why do some corals survive? A new study, published in Nature, is the first to document a trait that helps some coral species live through, and recover from, bleaching. The survivors’ secret: Ramped up feeding rates.

In an experiment with three species of Hawaiian corals researchers found that, when bleached, the branching coral Montipora capitata sharply increased its intake of tin

Researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health measured levels of an antibacterial hand soap ingredient, triclocarban, as it passed through a wastewater treatment facility. They determined that approximately 75 percent of the ingredient washed down the drain by consumers persists during wastewater treatment and accumulates in municipal sludge, which later is used as fertilizer for crops. Their findings are presented in a study appearing in the online and print editions of the

In response to a growing demand for sharpened census data, GeoVille Information Systems has developed ‘real-world population’ maps based on Earth observation, under a contract named EO-STAT awarded by ESA, which can assist the private and public sector in fields such as geomarketing, market research, business location analysis, risk assessment and transport and urban planning.

GeoVille, an Austrian company specialising in geo-information, and Tele Atlas, the largest manufacturer of roa

For the first time, ecologists have been able to show that molecular variation in one gene may affect the growth of a population in its natural habitat. Research Professor Ilkka Hanski, University of Helsinki, and Dr Ilik Saccheri, University of Liverpool, UK, discovered that the population growth of the Glanville fritillary butterfly (Melitaea cinxia) is affected by the allelic composition of the phosphoglucose isomerase (Pgi) enzyme. The result challenges previous views according to which all

UK expertise is being exported to North America to help prevent a unique type of red squirrel dying out in as little as 30 years time.

Researchers from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in England, working with The University of Arizona in the US, have developed a special computer model which in time will pinpoint the biggest threats to the rare Mount Graham Red Squirrel.

Details of the model are published in the academic journal Biological Conservation.

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